Saturday, 12 January 2013

Saving for your future

The start of a New Year always starts with good intentions and resolutions that we wish to implement so that we can make this year ‘our’ year.

Some people are taking the start of 2013 as their chance to lose weight or cut out sugar in their tea, but there are some who are putting their pennies aside for a rainy day and looking for a new way to save.

As a child I used to put my spare change into a piggy bank, and it is surprising just how quickly that loose change can change its value. To this day I still have a money pot to put my pennies in and it usually comes in very handy whenever I am on the hunt for change to pay for my car parking ticket!

Of course serious saving is more than putting your loose change in a pot, but by looking into a bank account with a high interest rate you can begin to make some more pennies from your hard earned money.

Saving your money opens up new doors to exciting new places, maybe you can book that once in a lifetime holiday that you have dreamt about since you were a child, buying that very first home for your family, or what about that new car?

There is always the option of putting your money into a pension to fund your retirement. Saving now will put you in good stead for the future when you want to say goodbye to the world of work altogether and enjoy the luxuries of life.

Now after being in my job for 4 years I am yet to sign up to their pension scheme, however with the new auto-enrolment programme that is being introduced by the government, all employers are legally required to put forward all employees into a qualifying work place scheme if like me, they are not already in one.

NOW:Pensions have released an insightful infographic taking into account the biggest ever pension shake up with the introduction of auto-enrolment. But what is the attitude of British workers on saving for their retirement?